Sunday, January 13, 2013

Wow, what a week! It sounds like most of you got off to a good start with your gauntlets which is so awesome to hear! Episode one of Season 3 of DA was equally awesome but I won't talk shop here in case some of you haven't watched yet. I will say, that The Secrets of Highclere Castle special on PBS (about the castle where Downton is filmed) was also really cool. If you haven't watched that yet, I highly encourage you to do so. The history geek in me really enjoyed it.

Ok, so on to the reason you are all here--Clue # 2 of Lady Violet's Dinner Gauntlets! This week's clue should prove to be much easier than last week's since you are already familiar with the lace and eyelet patterns. I have absolutely loved seeing all of the WIPs on Ravelry in the Downton KAL Photo Gallery Thread by the way! It's amazing how differently the Sportmate in the Downton color can knit up depending on gauge and where you begin your skein. So many cool versions of the pattern! Not only that, but I love seeing how these gauntlets are shaping up in different yarns too!

By now, you should have knit four rounds in stockinette and then two full repeats of the lace panel and you should have eight sets of eyelets on needle 1. This is a total of 36 rounds.

Here is what you do next:

**Remember, you are working all needles' directions in the round at the same time. The directions are broken down by needle.

Needle 1: Continue working eyelet pattern for 24 more rows ending with a total of 14 eyelets. (If you have one more or one less, don't fret. Just go with it. The number of eyelets isn't super important as long as it's close.)

Needle 2: Work one more repeat of the lace section and then work rounds 1-8 of the lace section again.

Needle 3: K every round

Once you've completed this portion, congrats! You are done with the arm of the gauntlet. Next we will begin the thumb gusset. For those who aren't familiar with this term or have never knit fingerless gloves before, a thumb gusset is the part where you increase the number of stitches on your needles where the thumb will be. It's a method of shaping.

Thumb Gusset:

Needle 1: For this section, you will no longer knit eyelets. At this point you should have a total of 14 eyelets. You will now just knit regular stockinette stitch on needle 1 until the directions say otherwise.

Needle 2: Continue working in Rosebud Lace pattern picking up where you left off, starting with round 9. While you are knitting the thumb gusset, you will continue working this pattern for 12 more rounds ending on row 4 of the pattern.

Needle 3: Knit as follows-

Round 1: k1f&b, k3, k1f&b, place marker, k to end of round.

Round 2: k

Round 3: k1f&b, k to last st before marker, k1f&b, slip marker, k to end of round.

Round 4: k

Repeat rounds 3 & 4, four more times. On the last round (a knit round with no increases) knit the first stitch on needle 3. Next, slip the rest of the stitches (16 sts total) up to the stitch marker onto a scrap of waste yarn using a darning needle. Finally, knit the rest of the round, making sure to knit the two stitches on either edge of the thumb gusset as snuggly as possible as you join them.

The thumb increases take place over a total of 12 rounds and by now you should have just completed row 4 of the lace panel on needle 2 as well. You will leave these live stitches on the waste yarn for later.

Continue working the hand portion of the gauntlet for 4 more rounds to finish working rows 5-8 of the Rosebud lace pattern while knitting all stitches on needles 1 and 3. Stop here for now as this is the end of Clue #2!

I hope you all enjoy this week's episode of Downton. I'm sure it will be great!

As always, feel free to post messages to the Ravelry Group if you have questions, private message us, or leave a comment on the blog! I'll do my best to answer as quickly as possible! (Also, please see below for the abbreviations used in this portion of the pattern.)

Happy knitting!

Kristen

PS. One of our beans (Allison) had a dream last week that Lady Violet was following her around the Jimmy Beans warehouse and "helping" her put away yarn. Too funny! Can you imagine!?!!?

Abbreviations:

k- Knit

p-purl

st(s)- stitch(es)

k2tog- knit two stitches together

k3tog- knit three stitches together

ssk- slip, slip, knit. Slip one stitch onto the right needle knit wise and one stitch onto the right needle purlwise, then insert the left needle into both stitches through the front loop and knit the two together.

yo- yarn over, bring the yarn to the front as if to purl, knit the next stitch.

K1f&b- knit into the front of the stitch knitwise, then before dropping the stitch off the left needle, knit into the back of the same stitch again. Also known as a “bar increase.”

sl 1- slip one stitch knitwise

psso- pass the slipped stitch over (from right to left)

*If you need help with any of these terms, knittinghelp.com has a wonderful glossary of abbreviations!

I'm confused about the number of stitches for the thumb gusset. I have an odd # of stitches before the marker. After repeating the increase rounds, I get 17. If I knit one stitch, I have 16 remaining to put on scrap, not 15. Did I miss a step? Thanks!

I'm still really enjoying the DAMKAL! I haven't been successful with lace patterns in the past and haven't taken on lace projects for awhile. They never looked right. If I had know it would be lace I might not have signed up, but I did and now I figured out what I was doing wrong. Working on this pattern caused be to look at the way I was doing YOs. I was adding an extra twist that didn't allow lace patterns to open up properly. And I disagree with the comments about it being more complicated on 3 needles. 3 needles helped me to stay on track.

Thanks for all of your comments! It's good to know that the by-needle method works for some people. For those who are struggling, there are some folks on the Ravelry group who have written it out line by line because it's easier for them as well. Feel free to look on there to see if anyone is willing to share their notes with you!

I was quite confused and had trouble working this pattern because of it written for each needle. I have done many socks on DPN but instructions have always been written out for each round. I discovered that by using two separate row counters, one for the eyelet rounds and the other for the pattern and needle 3 it became so easy for me to keep track of what I was doing and where I was at on each needle.

Thanks for the fun and pretty pattern! Having a great time anticipating the next section. I thought the "by the needle" directions were pretty clear once I read the whole blog and saw the directions for circular needle users. I magic loop everything I can and it is working out very well this way. Loved the yarn so much I ordered the newest limited edition colorway in sportmate! Just wanted to say thanks!

Let me chime in, as a math teacher, to the needle dialogue. I like the needle by needle instructions because it has been a useful way to chunk the directions. What is fun is that you can use a simple math idea to keep track. When on needle 2, divide the row you are on by four, the remainder will help you remember what needle 1's instruction is. Whenever the remainder is 1, you will be working the eyelet row, the rest of the remainders means it is a knit row on needle 1. I love finding answers to the age old question, "When are we ever going to use this?"

Trying for the third time to post this comment so I apologize if it is repeated...Kristen, can you give me some help in locating the folks in the Ravelry group who have written out the pattern line by line? I'm struggling with keeping everything straight. Thank you!